THE CENSUS OP INDIA.
[To TIM EDITOR Or TIER "seserwroivl Sin,--,-Anthropou3etry has revolutionised our ideas of Inalan ethnology, said a lecturer in my presence the other day, Tire conclusions regarding ethnology come to by the compilers of the Census are based partly on anthropometry, partly on the investigations of numerous observers. The personal equation la practically eliminated. Your correspondent Mr. W. B. Oldham (Spectator, March 20th) prefers to rely on his personal experiences and reminiscences. He does not recognise the revolution. He seems hurt that the Census Report should call Bengalis Mongolo-Dravidiain. In this country when a man of low estate achieves greatness, we honour him the more. That Bengalis have risen to great positions under our protection is highly to their credit,—more creditable than had they been Hindus of Hindustan. That your correspondent Ands it necessary to claim for the Mongolo-Dravidian Bengalis equality with the Aryo-Dravidian people of Hindustan shows how deep the cleavage between races is. He does not claim that under former regimes--e.g., under Akbar—the Bengalis were. so much in evidence. As regards Mum'man Bengalis, I never heard that the missionaries or the Linguistic Survey have recognised " Mussulmani-Bengali" as a different tongue from Bengali. Literary Bengali is much Sanscritised. The vernacular of Eastern Bengal has many foreign words in its vocabulary, and the missionaries have adopted this vernacular in part of their translation of the Bible. The compilers of the Census are quite able to defend their position, and I need not pursue the subject further. But I may mention that few Mohammedans claimed to be Moghuls, Sm., in their Census Returns. Even in the Nizam'e dominions, where your correspondent says they are visibly a separate race, more than half entered themselves as Sheikh. I am sorry your correspondent should hold that Mr. Sinha, Mr. Gupta, and Other Anglicised Bengalis are still tainted with Indian Ideas. I thought they bad no sympathy whatever even With caste prejudices. I am sure they repudiate polygamy, • infant marriage, hook-swinging, widow celibacy, &c.—I am,
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